We can hardly believe we are finally on our way. Seems like Laros has been in Santa Cruz at anchor for weeks. We obtained our visa on 17th March, for a single port 20 day stay expiring on the 7th, and winds are forecast for some breeze out of the Galapagos south, so here we are - on our way. We met many sailing friends in the town last night for supper and wished them well for their trip west in due course. This morning we picked up gas bottles topped up for the crossing, having purchased a massive bottle yesterday as the baking gas tank - we can now relax about gas usage. Who says you can't buy gas in the Galapagos, in fact probably anything if you know where to go.
We have motored 2 hours while we cleared the headland and reef to the south of Pueuto Ayora and untaggled the cruising chute. Then up it went, engine off, and 6.5-7 knots speed over the ground. There seems to be a good current going our way, maybe 1.5-2 knots, so we can notch up a good start. As the afternoon sun begins to set, tea is brewing in the pot, passion fruit drizzle cake is cut with extra passion-fruit curd spread on top, and the fishing line is idly tended. Pre-cooked spag bog is thawing, and sun-downers mixers are in the freezer chilling. We even have ice. How can the world be so kind to us? We anticipate the wind dropping soon, so I predict the steady beat of the engine all night. Fingers crossed the wind comes up again tomorrow morning. Our great friends on Haven Kerry and Bruce reported having to reach 3 degs 30 mins South before really good wind kicked in. That should be us in about 24 hours. We are waiting for the grib files download to come in via Sailmail (these are weather pictures in wind icon form), so I'll let you know how we have faired.
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